4-WAY LADDER ACTION

There was excellent back and forth action. Orton hit each opponent with a back suplex on the announce table before Andrade brought ladders into the ring and clobbered both Balor and Orton with the steel.

Balor took a painful-looking bump on a ladder propped in the corner and Ali dived over the top rope to take out a ladder-wielding Andrade on the floor below.

The best spot came when Ali leapt off the ropes, missed the 054, and forward-rolled straight into Orton’s path for an RKO outta nowhere.

Andrade got the win when he nailed IC champ Balor with his hammerlock DDT.

Afterwards, Andrade posed on a ladder to foreshadow a win at this Sunday’s ladder match (he’s got no chance) but Raw superstar Ricochet turned up, climbed the ladder, and ran off with the MITB briefcase.

PREVIEW

DE-PAY IN DE-SKY

BRAND SPLIT OVER?

The second week into the new “wild card rule” and it’s obvious it’s just a creative shortcut for WWE.

Both Raw and SmackDown were very good this week, but the lines have blurred so much between the two that WWE might as well officially end the brand split.

The Miz and Usos are both Raw superstars but played a big part on SmackDown. By the time Ricochet showed up as well we’d lost count.

The Usos are even competing for the SmackDown tag titles at Money in the Bank – just four weeks after they dropped the belts and moved to the red brand.

Roman Reigns was on Raw and is clearly going to be a mainstay on both shows going forward.

If Raw superstar Sami Zayn is now playing a big role in the KO v Kofi feud, we can also presumably expect to see him as a permanent fixture on SmackDown.

And if the brands are no longer exclusive, then do we really need all these additional brand-specific titles clogging up the product – the Raw and SmackDown tag titles, Raw and SmackDown women’s titles, or even the Universal title?